Low calorie or diabetic foods can be prepared by replacing some or all of the natural sweetener (e.g., sucrose, fructose, corn syrup, etc.) with low calorie sweeteners such as saccharin, aspartame, or acesulfame potassium. However, artificial sweeteners such as saccharin and acesulfame potassium can have bitter and/or metallic aftertastes, and high intensity sweeteners such as sucralose and aspartame, although providing a level of sweetness similar to sugar without bitter or metallic aftertastes, can have “sweetness delivery” problems, e.g., different rates and time periods for the onset and linger of the sweet taste. As a result, it is difficult to formulate low calorie diabetic foods with reduced natural sweetener levels, having the same sweetness characteristics as “regular” non-dietetic products sweetened with e.g., sucrose and/or fructose.
Sweetness enhancers (for example those described in U.S. application Ser. Nos. 11/760,592, 11/836,074, 61/027,410, and International Application No. PCT/US2008/065650) are compounds which enhance the perceived sweetness of various natural and artificial sweeteners. Thus, low calorie foods containing sweetness enhancers can be formulated with acceptable sweetness characteristics, yet significantly lower levels of sweeteners. However, formulating foods containing sweetness enhancers can be challenging, due to the high potency and/or low solubility of some sweetness enhancers. For example, highly potent sweetness enhancers require precise and uniform mixing of low levels of the sweetness enhancer in the food to avoid batch-to-batch variability in the perceived sweetness of the food. Accordingly, low solubility sweetness enhancers may require special processing methods to permit formulation of reduced/low calorie foods in a commercially acceptable manner.
The present invention is directed to improved compositions comprising sweetness enhancers, and methods for preparing such compositions.